How a Vacation Can Make You Happy, Even on a Budget

While people continue to make cutbacks these days, vacations don’t have to be the first thing that you strike from your budget. In fact, in trying economic times it’s perhaps more crucial than ever to enjoy a vacation and take a break from the pressures of your day-to-day demands.

It’s not just a nice idea; there is even research to suggest that taking a vacation is good for us. The findings of this work suggest that a vacation can help us all by:

relieving stress and improving our mood

improving our sleep patterns

improving our gastrointestinal system

strengthening our bones through increased vitamin D production

and, can even help our hearts and lower blood pressure.

If you’re thinking ‘that all sounds great but I can’t stand the thought of sitting around on a beach doing nothing’, you might be interested to learn that this research also discovered it’s not just relaxing beach vacations that make us happier, the change of pace we experience touring other cities is just as good, if not better, at taking the pressure off and making us just generally feel better and more optimistic about life.

Of course, there is still the money issue, but that doesn’t need to be the deciding factor. There are many great ways to travel and still save money. Here are a few helpful tips on how to enjoy a vacation without blowing your budget.

Saving Money on Dining Out While Travelling

Dining out is generally expensive, however; if you take advantage of the small local establishments and avoid the commercial chains you get great food, authentic flavours and make great savings. If you’re interested in a low cost city break try Krakow. Dining out here is so affordable you will be amazed at just how far your money goes. Tasting all the different varieties of the Polish speciality dumplings means it will never get boring.

Making the most of local markets is probably the best way to travel on a budget.

Whether you’re self-catering in a private apartment or hostel or even half board in a hotel, you can make the most of the fresh produce available every day. It’s easy to put together a picnic for the equivalent of just a few dollars and it means you’re free to explore without being tied to the downtown areas and their cafes.

Finding Cheap Flights

Even before you go, you will be amazed at the savings you can make by doing some searches online and carefully planning out your trip. You can get really cheap flights with companies like Jet2.com who fly all over Europe and there’s some really good websites for finding private apartment rentals too.

Remember, vacations are an important part of a healthy lifestyle, and everyone should try to take at least one vacation a year, whether it is to travel overseas, or to the Caribbean, or simply to a different location a few hours away from home.

Comments

In July, my wife and I went a way for a long weekend (at the beach) using hotel vouchers which included breakfast. The weekend cost us about a $100. We returned very relaxed! It makes me want to do it more often, if I could just break away.

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